COL.  GEORGE  WASHINGTON  FLOWERS 
MEMORIAL  COLLECTION 


DUKE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
DURHAM,  N.  C. 


PRESENTED  BY 

W.  W.  FLOWERS 


7 


The  Morte  d' Arthur; 


ITS  INFLUENCE 


ON  THE 

4 


SPIRIT   AND  MANNERS 


OF  THE 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 


BALTIMORE  : 

TUKNBULL  BROTHERS. 
1872. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1872, 
Br  TURNBULL  BROTHERS, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


ROWERS  COLLECTION 


dedication. 


TO    MRS.    POL  K  j 

TVIDOW    OP    THE    RIGHT    BKV.   LEONIDAS  POLK, 

•WHO,  WHETHER  AS  A  SOLDIER  OF  THE  CROSS  WHEN  BISHOP  OF  LOUISIANA,  OR 
AS  A  SOLDIER  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  CONFEDERACY  WHEN  LIEUT.  GEN.  POLK, 
O.  S.  A.,  EXEMPLIFIKD  IN   HIS  LIFE   AND  CHARACTER  THE  SPIRIT 
OF  ANCIENT  CHIVALRY  AS    HANDED    DOWN   TO  US   IN  THE 
MORTE  D'ARTHUR,  THIS  TREATISE  ON  MODERN  CHIV- 
ALRY IS  AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATED  BY  ONE 
WHO  HAS  KNOWN  AND  REVERED  HER 
FROM  YOUTH,  IN  ADMIRATION  OF 
HER  MANY  VIRTUES. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2013 


http://archive.org/details/mortedarthuritsiOObalt 


THE  MORTE  D 'ARTHUR. 


Sir  Thomas  Mallory's  Book  of  King  Arthur  and  his  noble  Knights 
of  the  Bound  Table.  Original  edition  of  Caxton,  with  an  Intro- 
duction by  Sir  Edward  Strachy,  Bart.  Philadelphia:  J.  B. 
Lippincott  &  Co.   London:  Macmillan  &  Co.  1868. 

"iBpesy  is  a  part  of  learning:  in  measure  of  words  for  the 
most  part  restrained,  but  in  all  other  points  extremely  licensed,  and 

doth  truly  refer  to  the  imagination  The  use  of  this  feigned 

history  hath  been  to  give  some  shadow  of  satisfaction  to  the  mind 
of  man  in  those  points  wherein  the  nature  of  things  cloth  deny  it, 
the  world  being  in  proportion  inferior  to  the  soul;  by  reason 
whereof  there  is  agreeable  to  the  spirit  of  man  a  more  ample  great- 
ness, a  more  exact  goodness,  and  a  more  absolute  variety,  than  can 
be  found  in  the  nature  of  things.  Therefore  because  the  acts  or 
events  of  true  history  hath  not  that  magnitude  which  satisfieth 
the  mind  of  man,  poesy  feigneth  acts  and  events  greater  and 
more  heroical;  because  true  history  propoundeth  the  successes- 
and  issues  of  actions  not  so  agreeable  to  the  merits  of  virtue 
and  vice,  therefore  poesy  feigns  them  more  just  in  retribution, 
and  more  according  to  revealed  providence  ;  because  true  history 
representeth  actions  and  events  more  ordinary  and  less  inter- 
changed, therefore  poesy  endueth  them  with  more  rareness  and 
more  unexpected  and  alternate  variations :  so  as  it  appeareth 
that  poesy  serveth  and  conferreth  to  magnanimity,  morality,  and 
to  delectation. 


6 


THE  MOETB  d' ARTHUR. 


"  And  therefore  it  was  ever  thought  to  have  some  participation 
of  divineness,  because  it  doth  raise  and  erect  the  mind  by  sub- 
mitting the  shows  of  things  to  the  desire  of  the  mind  ;  whereas 
reason  doth  buckle  and  bow  the  mind  unto  the  nature  of  things." 

This  analysis  of  Heroic  Poetry  which  we  owe  to  the  acumen 
of  Lord  Bacon,  gives  us  the  key  to  the  enthusiasm  excited  by  it 
in  the  breasts  of  the  most  cultivated  of  nations  in  all  ages  and  in 
all  stages  of  development.  Our  own  half-civilised  or  well-nigh 
barbarous  ancestors  forgot  for  the  time  their  wonted  ferocity  in 
listening  to  the  runes  and  sagas  recited  to  them  by  their  frantic 
bards  and  priests  ;  and  under  their  inspiriting  influences,  fired  by 
the  hope  of  earning  the  smile  of  Odin  by  deeds  emulating  his  valor, 
they  rushed  to  battle,  to  victory  or  death,  and  died  exulting  in  the 
right  to  claim  from  him  an  immediate  translation  to  the  halls  of 
Walhalla,  there  to  quaff  through  eternity  mead,  metheglin,  and 
even  blood,  from  their  to  us  ghastly  drinking-cups  —  the  skulls  of 
their  enemies. 

In  Greece,  cultivated  Greece,  the  spell  cast  by  Homer  upon  his 
own  age  still  rests  upon  ours ;  for  through  the  mists  of  antiquity 
his  gigantic  shape  looms  through  space,  and  throws  its  heroic 
shadow  upon  the  poetry  of  modern  times :  for  — 

"Thy  laurels,  Pelides,  had  faded  in  gloom 
Had  the  bard  not  preserved  them  immortal  in  bloom." 

At  this  very  day  the  deeds  of  the  Trojan  heroes  are  chanted  by 
the  Venetian  gondolier  alternately  with  those  of  the  deliverers  of 
Jerusalem,  and  by  a  harmless  anachronism  Achilles  and  Hector 
mingle  with  Tancred  and  Rinaldo  in  doughty  deeds  of  arms :  thus 
do  the  united  geniuses  of  Homer  and  of  Tasso  stamp  themselves 
upon  Time  itself. 

In  the  Middle  Ages,  when  the  "  Gai  Science"  was  the  only 
literary  recreation,  or  rather  attainment,  of  those  whose  "  orna- 


THE  MORTE  b'aRTHUE. 


7 


merits"  were  "arms,"  whose  "pastime"  war,  the  troubadours, 
trouveres,  and  minnesingers  filled  a  large  space  in  the  life  of  the 
times;  for  the  divine  afflatus,  never  wholly  quenched  in  the 
rudest  bosoms,  fed  itself  by  the  recital  of  those  acts  of  chivalric 
unselfishness,  that  devotion  to  woman,  that  sacrifice  of  the  strong 
to  the  weak,  that  ardent  aspiration  for  glory,  and  honor  for  honor's 
sake,  which  constitute  the  very  essence  of  true  heroic  poetry. 
Looking  to  something  better,  something  beyond  themselves,  of 
which  they  deemed  themselves  capable,  and  to  which  their  aspira- 
tions all  tended,  the  knights  of  Richard  Cceur-de-Lion,  of  the 
Black  Prince,  of  Charlemagne,  and  of  Philip  Augustus,  turned 
from  their  own  deeds  of  to  them  modern  arms  —  sullied  in  their 
eyes  by  the  consciousness  of  unworthy  motives,  and  actuated  by 
a  desire  for  personal  aggrandisement — to  a  time  when  in  the 
dim  obscurity  of  the  Past  knightly  fame  had  lost  the  blots  and 
blurs,  the  remembrance  even  of  personality,  and  stood  amidst 
the  myths  of  antiquity  a  glorious  type  of  purity  and  unselfish- 
ness :  to  the  time  when  King  Arthur  gathered  his  knights  about 
his  "  Table  Round,"  and  discussed  with  them  in  reverential  awe 
"the  Quest  for  the  San  Graile,"  in  itself  the  then  highest  and 
holiest  object  of  knightly  devotion  —  and  if  we  may  be  pardoned 
the  seeming  anachronism,  the  noblest,  the  most  unselfish,  as  it 
was  the  first  of  crusades.  For  the  expeditions  undertaken  in  more 
modern  times,  and  which  were  truly  crusades,  had  for  their  object 
a  tangible  earthly  reward.  Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  and  after  him 
Baldwin,  Count  of  Flanders,  were  not  to  be  spiritual  lords  alone  ; 
they  were  also  to  have  the  temporal  ability  to  reward  their  suc- 
cessful followers.  The  dominion  of  the  Holy  Land,  the  earthly 
power  of  the  Kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  were  no  mean  adjuncts  to 
the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  "  The  Quest  for  the  San 
Graile,"  on  the  contrary,  offered  rewards  wholly  spiritual  in  their 
nature :  no  earthly  recompense  awaited  him  who  "  achieved  it." 


8 


THE  MORTE  d'aRTHUR. 


A  scapulaire,  a  monk's  cowl  and  a  rosary,  were  to  be  his  only 
visible  titles  to  bonor ;  bis  sole  recompense  lay  in  a  sbadowy 
promise  of  future  happiness  beyond  tbe  grave  and  a  present 
absolution  from  all  sin. 

In  itself  tbe  San  Grail  was  but  a  simple  disb,  according  to  some 
a  cbalice ;  but  into  tbe  etymology  or  tbe  orthography  of  the  word 
it  is  useless  now  to  enter,  for  all  agree  that  it  was  a  golden  vessel 
sanctified  by  having  been  blessed  by  our  Saviour  at  the  Last  Sup- 
per. Whether  it  held  the  Paschal  lamb,  tbe  emblem  of  His  body, 
or  the  juice  of  the  vine,  the  emblem  of  His  blood,  it  was  alike 
holy.  Brought  by  the  piety  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea  into  Britain 
whilst  still  containing  a  portion  of  his  Redeemer's  blood,  it  long 
miraculously  continued  a  visible  token  to  the  faithful  of  the  death 
and  sacrifice  of  Christ  their  Lord  ;  but  (so  the  legend  runs)  in  con- 
sequence of  the  sinfulness  of  mankind,  in  the  lapse  of  years  it 
disappeared  from  mortal  sight,  never  again  to  appear  to  human 
vision  until  it  should  "be  achieved"  by  a  knight  "clean  of  his 
sins,"  to  whom  it  should  bring  all  heavenly  blessings.  This 
spiritual  reward,  this  "  Quest  of  the  San  Graile,"  is  the  earliest  re- 
corded type  of  knightly  unselfishness.  It  was  a  search  after 
holiness,  for  the  reward  which  it  alone  had  to  offer,  in  which 
purity  and  unselfishness  alone  could  win  the  prize.  Can  the  im- 
agination of  man  conceive  of  anything  more  ennobling  ?  Can 
there  be  a  more  exalted  object  of  human  ambition  than  this? 

Too  Utopian  perhaps  for  modern  views,  it  is  however  the  first 
written  evidence  of  the  existence  of  what  we  now  in  our  day 
term  Chivalry.  What  then  is  this  much  vexed,  this  much  de- 
rided question  —  this  Chivalry?  We  cannot  answer  better  than 
in  the  words  of  Sir  Edward  Strachy,  and  say  "  that  chivalry 
exists  for  us  in  spirit  rather  than  in  outward  visible  forms ;  that 
it  no  longer  comes  to  us  with  the  outward  symbols  of  war-horse 
and  armor,  and  noble  birth,  and  strength  of  arm  and  high-flown 


THE  MOETE  D  ARTHUR. 


9 


protestations  of  love  and  gallantry ;  yet  we  never  fail  to  know  and 
feel  its  presence,  silent  and  unobtrusive  as  it  now  is.  We  recog- 
nise the  lady  and  gentleman  not  less  surely  now  than  they  did  in 
old  times,  and  we  acknowledge  their  rights  and  power  over  us 
now  no  less  than  then." 

Chivalry  then  exists  for  us  now  in  our  manners.  That  is  the 
heritage  left  us  by  our  forefathers :  our  manners,  and  through 
them  our  laws.  For  to  quote  a  no  less  able  than  graceful  writer 
—  now,  alas!  no  longer  in  life  to  exemplify  by  his  manners  what 
he  taught  with  his  pen  —  Prof.  Wilson :  "  Good  manners  give  a 
vital  efficacy  to  good  laws.  These  few  words  comprise  the  need- 
ful constituents  of  national  happiness  and  prosperity  Good 

laws  without  good  manners  are  empty  breath."  And  to  what, 
tell  us  ye  who  laugh  at  and  deride  modern  chivalry  —  to  what 
one  thing  do  we  owe  our  manners  more  than  to  that  knightly 
element  of  chivalric  courtesy  implanted  in  our  ancestors  by  their 
early  legends  of  King  Arthur  —  that 

"Darling  of  all  poesy, 
Through  whose  raised  visor  beamed  the  fearless  eye  — 
The  limpid  mirror  of  a  stately  soul, 

Bright  with  young  hope,  but  grave  with  purpose  high, 
Sweet  to  encourage,  steadfast  to  control : 
An  eye  from  whence  subjected  hosts  might  draw, 
As  from  a  double  fountain,  love  and  awe  "? 

Divest  the  world  of  chivalry,  and  what  would  woman  have 
been  without  it  in  the  Middle  Ages  ?  nay,  say  what  would  she  now 
be  without  that  daughter  of  chivalry  —  good  manners  ?  For  to 
refer  again  to  Prof.  Wilson :  "  Good  manners  consist  in  a  con- 
stant maintenance  of  self-respect,  accompanied  by  attention  and 
deference  to  others  ;  in  correct  language  and  gentle  tones  of 
voice,  ease  and  quietness  of  movement  and  action.  They  repress 
no  gaiety  nor  animation  which  keeps  free  of  offence ;  they  divest 
serious  men  of  an  air  of  severitj"  or  pride.  In  conversation,  good 
manners  restrain  the  vehemence  of  personal  or  party  feeling ;  and 
that  versatility  winch  enables  people  to  converse  readily  with 
2 


10 


THE  MORTE  d'aRTHUR. 


strangers,  and  take  a  passing  interest  in  any  subject  which  may 
be  presented  to  them" — is,  in  short,  good  manners.  So  that  in 
point  of  fact  that  unselfishness  practised  by  the  knights  of  the 
Round  Table  in  their  quest  for  the  San  Grail  finds  its  full  devel- 
opment in  the  highest  phase  of  the  manners  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  Tracing  our  modern  refinement  step  by  step  back  to  its 
source,  looking  from  the  stream  to  the  fountain-head,  we  find  its 
first  spring  in  the  Morte  cF Arthur.  That  exalted  legend  it  was 
which  first  fired  and  then  fed  the  heroic  spirit  which  shone  in 
Charlemagne,  in  Richard  Coeur-de-Lion,  in  the  Black  Prince,  in 
Du  Guesclin,  in  Henry  the  Fifth,  and  in  Philip  Augustus,  and 
which  they  exemplified  not  only  on  the  battle-fields  of  Spain' 
Palestine,  France,  and  England  —  at  Roncesvalles,  before  Jerusa- 
lem, at  Cressy,  and  at  Poitiers,  but  also  in  their  daily  lives  and 
conversation — in  their  manners.  That  same  spirit  it  is  which, 
blazing  in  the  pages  of  Froissart,  has  made  that  delightful  chron- 
icle the  chosen  companion  of  readers  of  all  ages  and  all  times  — 
from  the  school-bo}'  who  as  he  reads  sighs  that  those  stirring  times 
are  forever  past,  and  regrets  that  he  cannot  now  wield  his  resist- 
less sword  and  crash  through  iron  helmets  as  though  they  were 
paper,  nor  like  Gaston  de  Foix  rescue  by  his  own  prowess  high- 
born dames  from  the  clutch  of  the  savage  Jacquerie  —  to  the  old 
man  who  as  he  pores  over  its  half-remembered  pages  forgets  his 
age  in  the  visions  of  his  youth  to  which  it  recalls  him,  and 
awakens  within  him  memories  which  he  thought  already  and  for- 
ever dead.  Good  manners !  Sneer  who  will  at  Chivalry  their  pa- 
rent, he  would  be  a  rash  man  who  in  this  day  would  dare  to  under- 
value the  descendant.  In  the  words  of  Selden,  the  acute  lawyer,  the 
profound  thinker  of  King  Charles  the  Second's  da}^ :  "  Ceremony  " 
(then  a  synonym  for  good  manners)  "  keeps  up  all  things.  'Tis 
like  a  penny  glass  to  a  rich  spirit  or  some  excellent  water :  with- 
out it  the  water  wTere  spilt,  the  spirit  lost." 


THE  MOKTE  d'aRTHUR. 


11 


But  it  is  not  in  the  courtesies  of  the  drawing-room,  "with  com- 
pliments and  addresses,  with  legs  and  kissing  of  hands,"  nor 
even  in  the  amenities  of  daily  life,  important  as  they  are,  that 
Chivalry  stands  forth  in  her  brightest  garb.  It  has  Sashed  through 
the  "ranks  of  war"  from  Arthur  to  Lee,  softening  the  asperities 
of  bloodshed,  and  depriving  even  carnage  of  some  of  its  horrors ; 
and  that  General  has  ever  written  his  name  highest  on  the  roll  of 
honor  who  most  regarded  its  benign  influence.  Let  the  thought- 
less jest  as  they  will  at  what  they  sneeringly  term  the  "  Chivalry 
of  the  South,"  let  the  records  of  the  war  which  so  recently  con- 
vulsed this  country  speak  and  say  whose  record  will  stand 
highest  in  the  eyes  of  future  generations,  that  of  the  Northern  or 
that  of  the  Southern  Generals?  Where  was  the  spirit  of  ancient 
chivalry  best  shown  :  in  the  march  of  Lee  through  Pennsylvania, 
or  in  that  of  Sherman  through  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas? 
Whose  track  was  watered  by  fewest  tears?  Whose  manhood 
was  oftenest  interposed  to  protect  woman,  to  shield  her  from  the 
horrors  incident  to  war  ?  —  and  such  a  war !  Who  bears  the  best 
title  to  the  "  grand  old  name  of  gentleman,"  Robert  E.  Lee  or 
William  Sherman?  Let  the  civilised  world,  let  the  descendants 
of  those  whose  types  were  Arthur  and  his  Knights,  Charlemagne 
and  his  Paladins,  the  gentlemen  of  England  and  France,  decide. 
Whom  would  they  readiest  welcome  to  their  ranks?  to  whom 
would  they  accord  the  heartiest  friendship?  To  General  Grant 
and  General  Sherman,  or  to  General  Lee  and  General  Johnston  ? 
Henry  the  Fourth  at  Ivry  exhorting  his  troops  to  — 

"Press  where  ye  see  my  white  plume  wave  amidst  the  ranks 
of  war, 

And  be  your  oriflamme  to-day  the  helmet  of  Narvarre"  — 

showed  the  same  spirit  which  animated  General  Lee  at  the 
battle  of  the  Wilderness,  when,  seeing  the  enemy  come  sweeping 
down  in  a  triumphant  line  over  the  remains  of  two  divisions  of 


12 


THE  MORTE  d'aRTHUR. 


his  army,  he  suddenly  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  a  single  regi- 
ment, a  Texan  one,  and  ordered  it  to  "Follow  me!  Charge!" 
seemingly  into  the  very  jaws  of  death  !  Nor  were  those  sun- 
burned and  war-worn  veterans  one  step  behind  either  leader  in 
the  race  of  honor,  when,  seeing  their  General  deaf  alike  to  the 
remonstrances  of  Longstreet  and  of  his  staff,  they  came  to  a  sud- 
den halt,  and  said  with  a  calm  determination  whose  power  even 
General  Lee  himself  was  forced  to  acknowledge  :  "  Retire  !  Do 
you  go  back,  and  let  us  go  forward  !  This  is  no  place  for  you. 
Retire,  or  we  remain  where  we  are !  "  Think  you  that  the  sol- 
dier's heart  throughout  the  world  does  not  beat  in  unison  with 
both  commander  and  men,  as  the  one,  yielding  in  part  to  their 
touching  solicitude,  checked  his  bridle-rein  and  stood,  whilst  the 
other,  tired  by  the  thought  that  the  eye  of  their  leader  was  upon 
them,  rushed  with  triumphant  shouts  through  a  tempest  of  bul- 
lets, and  with  a  fury  which  nothing  could  withstand,  snatched 
the  wavering  victory  from  the  grasp  of  their  too  confident  antag" 
onists ! 

This  is  chivalry  in  action.  Hackneyed  as  the  word  may  be,  its 
reality  strikes  a  chord  in  the  heart  of  a  gentleman  which  thrills 
to  no  other  influence,  touch  it  what  may.  "  NobUtite  oblige" — that 
obligation,  subjection  rather,  which  a  gentleman  acknowledges  to 
his  own  innate  nobility,  is  the  strongest  which  can  sway  him. 
"  Sir  Galahalt  the  haut  Prince  "  recognised  that  knightly  principle 
when,  after  having  had  the  "  misfortune  "  to  strike  off  the  head  of 
the  horse  of  his  opponent  Sir  Palamides  "by  a  foul  blow,  he 
alighted  down  from  off  his  own  horse,  and  prayed  the  good 
knight  Sir  Palamides  to  take  that  horse  of  his  gift  and  to  forgive 
him  that  deed"  ;  and  in  accepting  the  atonement  and  apology  Sir 
Palamides  showed  himself  no  whit  behind  his  princely  antagonist. 
" '  Sir,'  said  he, '  I  thank  you  of  your  great  goodness  ;  for  ever  of 
a  man  of  worship  a  knight  shall  never  have  dis-worship.'  And  so 


THE  MORTE  L>'ARTHUR.  13 

he  mounted  upon  that  horse,  and  the  haut  Prince  had  another 
anon." 

"For  ever  of  a  man  of  worship  a  knight  shall  never  have 
dis-worship  !  "  Can  one  who  carries  that  motto  into  his  daily 
life  and  lives  up  to  its  spirit,  ever  forget  the  courtesies,  the  refine- 
ments of  manner  due  others  from  himself,  especially  towards 
those  weaker  —  to  a  woman,  a  child,  or  to  a  wounded  or  con- 
quered adversary  ?  That  tyranny  exercised  by  the  weak  over  the 
strong  is  to  the  noble  mind  a  tyranny  more  oppressive  than  that 
of  power  or  of  place ;  sterner  and  more  abiding,  because  its 
spring  exists  in  himself,  and  in  himself  he  finds  his  strictest 
judge,  his  severest  tribunal.  He  can  never  shake  it  off;  never 
even  forget  it.  Can  a  Rohan  worthy  of  his  name  and  lineage 
forget  his  proud  motto :  "  Rois  ne  puis,  Prince  ne  daigne,  Rohan  je 
suis"?  "Rohan  je  sais!'n — and  being  "Rohan,"  nothing  un- 
worthy of  Rohan  shall  ever  sully  the  inward  consciousness, 
innate  and  born  with  me,  that  I  am  "  Rohan  " —  a  man  of  honor  ! 
Personal  honor  !  —  it  is  a  golden  thread  which  can  be  traced 
through  the  woof  of  Time,  back,  back  to  King  Arthur's  days. 
It  is  a  heritage  left  us  by  the  Knights  of  the  Round  Tabic. 
Cherish  we  then  the  memory  of  those  who,  dying,  left  behind 
them  so  glorious  a  legacy  —  the  heritage  of  Honor. 

The  trust  shown  by  "the  faire  Igraine"  in  the  sense  of 
justice  and  in  the  gallantry  of  her  age  —  in  its  public  opinion,  so 
to  speak — when  "she  spake  and  said:  'I  am  a  woman  and  I 
may  not  fight;  but  rather  than  I  should  be  dishonored  there 
would  be  some  good  man  take  up  my  quarrel,'  "  is  worthy  of  the 
brightest  days  of  later  romance  and  chivalry,  when  the  cham- 
pion of  female  honor  adventured  his  body  in  her  behalf  against 
all  comers,  and  stood  ready  at  all  times  to  prove  her  truth  and 
purity,  on  horse  or  on  foot,  with  the  lance  or  with  the  sword. 
Think  you  that  now  in  this  nineteenth  century  a  woman  unjustly 


THE  MOKTE  d'aKTHUR. 


aspersed  as  was  the  "  faire  Igraine  "  could  in  one  of  our  great 
cities  so  confidently  rely  as  did  Igraine  upon  the  protection,  the 
justice,  the  chivalry  of  her  countrymen?  Could  she  command  a 
champion  from  the  ranks  of  trade  and  commerce  ?  Would  the 
calculating  nicety  of  modern  civilisation  start  forth  armed  in  her 
behalf?  Or  should  she  not  rather  turn  to  an  earlier  time  ?  —  to  a 
time  ere  the  barbaric  virtues  of  justice,  magnanimity  and  gal- 
lantry are  extinguished  by  daily  jousts  in  the  Stock  Exchange, 
quenched  by  the  fluctuation  in  the  gold  market  ? 

Courage,  courtesy,  mercy  to  a  fallen  foe,  tenderness  for  the 
weak,  reverence  for  woman,  and  a  high  sense  of  personal  honor, 
run  through  every  page  of  this  grand  old  legend,  so  that  at  times 
we  can  say  of  it  as  did  Sir  Philip  Sydney  of  the  ballad  of  Chevy 
Chase:  44  It  stirreth  the  blood  like  the  sound  of  a  trumpet." 
They  all  speak  in  the  address  of  the  four  knights  to  Sir  Gawaine 
after  his  discreditable  encounter  with  the  knight  who  owned  the 
White  Hart,  refusing  him  mercy  when  he  was  vanquished,  and 
by  a  44  misadventure "  44  smiting  off  the  head  of  his  Ladye." 
44  Thou  new-made  knight,  thou  hast  shamed  thy  knighthood  !  — 
for  a  knight  without  mercy  is  dishonored.  Also  thou  hast  slain 
a  faire  ladye,  to  thy  great  shame  to  the  world's  end." 

The  charge  given  by  King  Arthur  himself  to  his  Knights  of 
the  Round  Table  when  he  44  stablished  them "  :  44  Never  to  do 
outrage  nor  murder,  and  always  to  fly  treason  :  also  by  no  means 
to  be  cruel,  bnt  to  give  mercy  unto  him  that  asketh  mercy,  upon 
pain  of  their  forfeiture  of  their  worship  and  lordship  from  King 
Arthur  forevermore  :  and  always  to  do  ladies,  damselles,  and  gen- 
tlewomen succor,  upon  pain  of  death :  also  that  no  man  take  no 
battles  in  a  wrongful  quarrel,  for  no  law  nor  for  world's  goods" 
—  is  one  which  in  spite  of  the  advancing  civilisation  of  the  pre- 
sent century  could  have  been  given  to  advantage  and  practised 
with  credit  by  both  officers  and  men  of  44  the  best  army  of  the  best 


THE  MOKTE  d'aRTHUR. 


15 


Government  under  the  sun"  during  the  late  war.  Compare  the 
"  Orders"  issued  by  Generals  Grant,  Sherman,  Hunter,  or  Butler, 
to  their  troops,  and  see  how  far  these  exemplars  of  the  age,  these 
heroes  of  enlightenment,  these  types  of  modern  refinement,  fall 
below  the  standard  of  Christianity  and  knightly  honor,  nay  of 
"good  manners,"  set  up  for  themselves  by  these  soldiers  of  what 
they  in  their  modern  wisdom  deem  a  rude  if  not  a  barbarous  age. 
What  would  King  Arthur  have  said  had  one  of  his  knights  acted 
in  the  spirit  of  the  famous  "Order  No.  28"  issued  by  Major- 
General  Butler,  U.  S.  A.,  against  the  women  of  New  Orleans? 
"We  will  give  it  in  extenso,  as  antithesis  to  that  quoted  above  which 
he  gave  to  his  knights  as  the  basis  of  their  conduct  and  action : — 

"  Head-Quarters,  Department  of  the  Gulf,  ) 
"  New  Orleans,  May  15,  18G2.  \ 

"  General  Order  No.  28. 

"As  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  United  States  have  been 
subjected  to  repeated  insults  from  the  women  calling  themselves 
ladies  of  New  Orleans,  in  return  for  the  most  scrupulous  non-in- 
terference and  courtesy  on  our  part  —  it  is  ordered  that  hereafter 
when  any  female  shall  by  word,  gesture  or  movement,  insult  or 
showr  contempt  for  any  officer  or  soldier  of  the  United  States,  she 
shall  be  regarded  and  held  liable  to  be  treated  as  a  woman  of  the 
town  plying  her  vocation. 

"  By  command  of  Major- General  Butler,  U.  S.  A. 

"  George  V.  Strong,  A.  A.  67." 

For  daring  to  utter  a  protest  against  this  infamous  "  Order" — 
a  protest  made  in  his  official  character  as  ''  Mayor  of  New  Orleans," 
and  therefore  the  protector  of  these  "females"  against  whom  the 
order  was  issued,  and  couched  in  terms  at  once  respectful,  manly, 
and  independent  —  John  T.  Munro,  Mayor  of  New  Orleans,  was 
arrested  and  imprisoned  at  Fort  Jackson,  and  kept  for  months, 
yes  for  more  than  a  year,  in  a  confinement  so  rigorous  that  when 
at  length  released  it  was  with  health  so  much  shattered  that  he 


16 


THE  MOKTE  d'aETHUR. 


never  recovered  from  the  effects  of  General  Butler's  malignity. 
Remember  that  he  was  "  a  vanquished  enemy."  We  quote  the 
closing  paragraph  only  of  his  noble  protest  for  which  he  was 
visited  with  so  unchivalric  a  treatment : — 

"  To  give  a  license  to  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  your  command 
to  commit  outrages  such  as  are  indicated  in  your  Order,  upon  de- 
fenceless women,  is  in  my  judgment  a  reproach  to  the  civilisation, 
not  to  say  to  the  Christianity  of  the  age,  in  whose  name  I  make 
this  protest. 

"  I  am,  Sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

"  John  T.  Monro,  Mayor''' 

It  may  be  thought  that  some  courage,  something  of  what  the 
English  call  "  pluck,"  was  needed  thus  to  attack  the  women  of  a 
large  city  collectively,  even  though  with  Queen  Igraine  "  being 
women  "  "  they  may  not  fight,"  yet  rather  than  the  whole  sex  "  be 
dishonored  "  "  some  good  man  may  be  found  to  take  up  their 
quarrel " ;  and  when  one  has  the  nerve  thus  to  throw  down  the 
gauntlet  to  the  men  of  a  whole  city  by  insulting  their  mothers, 
wives,  daughters,  sisters,  and  sweethearts,  we  might  look  for  some- 
thing generous  beyond  it.  But  we  look  in  vain  when  we  seek  it 
in  Major-General  Butler,  U.  S.  A.,  for  we  shortly  find  him  wreak- 
ing in  his  public  capacity  as  commander  of  the  forces  of  the 
United  States,  upon  a  single  defenceless  woman,  Mrs.  Phillips, 
the  fancied  social  slights  given  Mrs.  Butler  and  himself  years 
before  in  the  city  of  Washington  in  his  private  character  when  a 
member  of  Congress.  Against  her  did  he  issue  perhaps  the  most 
singular  "  Special  Order,"  that  of  "  No.  150,"  which  ever  disgraced 
the  annals  of  war.  In  it,  for  "  laughing  "  on  the  "  balcony  "  of 
her  own  house  as  the  funeral  procession  of  Lieut.  De  Kay  passed, 
she  is  ordered  not  to  be  "  treated  as  a  common  woman  of  whom 
no  officer  or  soldier  is  bound  to  takemotice,  but  as  an  uncommon 
bad  and  dangerous  woman,  stirring  up  strife  and  inciting  to  riot"  : 


THE  MOETB  d'aRTHUE. 


17 


she  is  "  therefore  "  (for  "  laughing  "  on  her  own  "  balcony  ")  ordered 
to  be  imprisoned  on  "  Ship  Island,  in  the  State  of  Mississippi,  till 
further  orders;  and  that  she  be  allowed  one  female  servant  and  no 
more,  if  she  so  choose;  that  one  of  the  houses  for  hospital  pur- 
poses be  assigned  her  as  quarters,  and  a  soldier's  ration  each  clay 
be  served  out  to  her,  with  the  means  of  cooking  the  same ;  and 
that  no  verbal  or  written  communication,  except  through  this 
office,  be  allowed  her ;  and  that  she  be  kept  in  close  confinement 
until  removed  to  Ship  Island." 

Finding,  perhaps,  that  this  special,  this  uncommon  bad  and 
dangerous  woman  was  not  sufficiently  subdued  by  this  treatment 
this  representative  man  (for  such  we  suppose  we  may  consider 
him)  takes  a  further  step  in  singularity  and  brutality ;  for,  having 
for  the  offence  of  "  exhibiting  a  human  skeleton  in  his  book-store 
window,"  "labelled  Chickahominy,"  condemned  one  Fidel 
Kellar  "  to  be  confined  to  Ship  Island  for  two  years  at  hard  labor," 
he  drags  Mrs.  Phillips  again  into  court  by  ordering  "  that  he  be 
allowed  to  communicate  with  no  person  on  the  Island  except 
Mrs.  Phillips,  who  has  been  sent  there  for  a  like  offence  ";  and 
not  to  miss  an  additional  insult,  he  magnanimously  goes  on: 
"  Upon  this  Order  being  read  to  him,  the  said  Kellar  requested 
that  so  much  of  it  as  associated  him  with  'that  woman'  might 
be  recalled ;  which  request  was  therefore  reduced  to  writing  by 
him  as  follows  :— 

" '  New  Orleans,  June  30,  1862. 
"  '  Mr.  Kellar  desires  that  that  part  of  the  sentence  which  refers 
to  the  communication  with  Mrs.  Phillips  be  stricken  out,  as  he 
does  not  wish  to  have  any  communication  with  the  said  Mrs. 
Phillips. 

(Signed)   "  1  F.  Kellar. 

" '  Witness  D.  Waters.' 

"  Said  request  seeming  to  the  Commanding  General  to  be  rea- 
sonable, so  much  of  said  Order  is  revoked,  and  the  remainder  will 
be  executed. 

"  Maj.-Gen.  Butler,  U.  8.  A. 
"  R.  S.  Davis,  Capt.  &  A.  A.  A. 
3 


18 


THE  MORTE  d'aRTIITJB. 


And  to  this  piece  of  infinitesimal  pettiness  and  malice,  Major- 
General  Butler,  U.  S.  A.,  was  not  ashamed  to  put  his  hand  and 
official  seal.  What  think  we  of  thus  invoking  the  whole  power 
of  a  nation  to  punish  one  defenceless  woman  for  "  laughiug  on 
her  balcony,"  and  then  "  answering  the  Commanding  General  on 
being  questioned  if  this  fact  were  so,  contemptuously,  by  reply- 
ing 1 1  was  in  good  spirits  that  day '  "  ? 

Call  the  roll  of  the  ranks  of  Chivalry !  What  would  King 
Arthur,  Sir  Lancelot,  Sir  Galahad,  Sir  Tristram,  Charlemagne, 
Harold,  Richard,  Edward  the  Third,  the  Black  Prince,  Du  Gues- 
clin,  nay  what  would  the  "  brewers  "  of  England  say  to  such  un- 
knightly,  such  unchivalric  conduct  ?  Ask  General  Hayuau  of  the 
Austrian  service  for  the  lesson  he  received  in  the  treatment  of 
woman  at  the  hands  of  Barclay  and  Perkins'  stalwart  English 
brewers.  The  sentiments  of  the  Southern  people  in  regard  to 
this  treatment  of  their  women  were  well  expressed  by  their 
exemplar,  President  Davis,  in  a  proclamation  dated  at  Richmond, 
December  23d,  1862,  wherein  he  enumerates  it  amongst  the  other 
"  hostilities  w7aged  against  this  Confederacy  by  the  forces  of  the 
United  States  under  command  of  the  said  B.  F.  Butler,"  which 
"  have  borne  no  resemblance  to  such  warfare  as  is  alone  permis- 
sible by  the  rules  of  international  law  or  the  usages  of  civilisa- 
tion," and  in  consequence  pronounces  and  declares  "  the  said 
B.  F.  Butler  to  be  a  felon,  deserving  of  capital  punishment,"  and 
orders  "  that  he  be  no  longer  treated  simply  as  a  public  enemy  of 
the  Confederate  States  of  America,  but  as  an  outlaw  or  common 
enemy  of  mankind,"  and  that  "  in  the  event  of  his  capture,  the 
officer  in  command  of  the  capturing  force  do  cause  him  to  be  im- 
mediately executed  by  hanging,"  and  winds  up  by  declaring  "  that 
all  commissioned  officers  under  his  command"  are  "  not  entitled 
to  be  considered  as  soldiers  engaged  in  honorable  warfare,  but  as 
robbers  and  criminals,  deserving  death";  but  in  the  spirit  of 


THE  MORTE  DARTHUR. 


19 


true  chivalry>  the  chivalry  of  Henri  Quatre,  excepting  the  "pri- 
vate soldiers  and  non-commissioned  officers,"  considering  them 
"as  only  the  instruments  used  for  the  commission  of  the  crimes 
perpetrated  by  his  orders,  and  not  as  free  agents,  and  that  they 
therefore  be  treated  when  captured  as  prisoners  of  war,  with 
kindness  and  humanity,"  &c.  The  loat  hing-  frit  by  a  magnanimous 
nation  for  such  an  opponent  as  Major-General  Butler  was  well 
expressed  in  some  lines  addressed  to  him,  and  published,  we  be- 
lieve, in  one  of  the  Charleston  papers  during  the  winter  of  1863 : — 


"  To  Maj.-Gen.  Butler,  U.  S.  A. 

"  Upon  hearing  that  he  had  caused  the  coffin  containing  the  remains  of 
Gknebal  A.  8.  Johnston,  Q.  ei.  A.,  to  be  opened. 

"  Yes  !  gaze  upon  the  dead  hero's  face  which,  living,  dastard-like  ye 
feared  ! 

Tear  from  that  noble  brow  its  cov'ring,  and  read,  if  thou  canst,  the 

record  written  there! 
Head  if  thou  canst!  Thy  guilty  frame,  steeped  to  the  lips  in  infamy, 
Thy  craven  heart,  thy  grov'ling  soul,  nor  reads,  nor  understands 
A  patriot's  fai th,  pure  as  unblemished  crystal;  a  warrior's  soul. 
Firm  as  twice-hardened  adamant  —  exalted,  pure,  untarnished  ! 
He  died  as  heroes  like  to  die,  amidst  victorious  shouts. 
This  was  his  earthly  fetter:  calm  and  serene  it  lies  in  its  stern 

dignity. 

To  mock  thy  senseless  rage,  thou  warrior  on  the  dead  ! 

M  Yet  fear  thee !  for  the  blood  doth  burst  forth  from  the  insensate 
corpse. 

Tremble!  his  body  calls  for  vengeance!   From  Mumford's  bloody 
grave, 

Hark,  how  the  cry  re-echoes !   List,  how  New  Orleans,  crushed  by 

thy  despot  heel. 
In  one  long,  lingering  gasp  sobs  out  her  wrongs  ! 
From  ev»-ry  street,  from  every  hearth  the  cry  goes  up  against  thee  ! 
Insulted  womanhood  raises  her  pure  front,  and  unabashed  calls  on 

the  world  for  vengeance. 
Eugenia's*  tears  fall  on  her  country's  heart;  and  for  every  one, 

base  lyrant, 

Her  countrymen  demand  of  thee  a  stern  revenge !  revenge  !  ! 

"And  they  shall  have  it!   Pressed  to  their  lips,  to  thee  they  drain 

an  overflowing  cup. 
Already  does  thy  hated  name  urge  on  the  fearful  carnage. 
Remember  Butler!  and  New  Orleans!   Strike  for  our  women! 

strike  !   Remember  Butler  ! 


Is  the  cry  that  on  Virginia's  fields  maddens  the  Southern  bl^od. 
Remember  Butler!  and  at  the  shout  down  goes  the  Northern 
ranks,  thy  countrymen, 

*Mrs.  Phillips. 


20 


THE  MORTE  d'aRTHTJR. 


Thou  tyrant !  e'en  as  the  ripened  grain  falls  in  the  mower's  vacant 

swathe ! 

Remember  Butler  !   Aye  !  thou  blot  upon  thy  country's  scutcheon  ! 

Aye! 

Remember  Butler! —  it  shall  be  a  war-cry  to  humanity. 
Remember  Butler  and  New  Orleans  !   Aye!  the  world  remembers 
Him  who  wars  on  woman,  and  the  dead!" 

William  of  "Wickham's  famous  motto  tells  us  that  "  manners 
maketh  man."  How  can  we  then,  after  this  view  of  Major-Gen- 
eral Butler,  over-estimate  chivalry,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  maketh 
manners,  and  thus  distinguishes  a  Christian  gentleman  from  a 
brutish  beast  ? 

The  comment  of  the  French  Marechal  Pelissier  on  the  celebra- 
ted charge  of  the  English  at  Balaclava,  "  C'est  magnifique,  mais 
ce  n'est  pas  la  guerre,"  by  its  direct  announcement  that  war  is  a 
distinct  thing  from  carnage,  from  mere  wanton  bloodshed,  recog- 
nises the  chivalric  element  which  pervades  all  Christian  warfare. 
Brave,  courageous,  "  magnifique "  though  it  was  to  see  the 
"  gallant  six  hundred  "  ride  open-e3red  into  the  "  valley  of  death," 
still  it  was  not  war,  was  not  scientific,  legitimate  Christian  warfare. 
Differing  from  the  immortal  stand  at  Thermopylae,  where  Leon- 
idas  and  his  "  gallant "  three  hundred  confronted  and  drove  back 
the  whole  army  of  Persia,  purchasing  the  freedom  of  their  country 
by  the  sacrifice  of  their  lives,  this  disastrous  charge  was  useless 
butchery  —  butchery  without  the  semblance  of  an  object.  Look- 
ing at  it  as  we  now  do  in  the  calm  light  of  reason,  robbed  by  time 
as>it  now  is  of  the  glare  of  enthusiasm,  freed  from  the  smoke  of 
battle,  we  can  but  admire  the  courage,  the  perfect  discipline  of 
the  men,  representatives  of  the  best  blood  of  England,  riding  as 
they  did  to  certain  death  because  it  was  "orders."  As  to  the 
officer  who  issued  the  order,  we  can  but  exclaim  with  Oliver 
Cromwell  on  a  somewhat  similar  but  far  less  disastrous  occasion, 
"  Good  lack  !  good  lack  ! " 

Chivalry  prevents  ennobling  thoughts  from  taking  their  flight, 
even  though  — 


THE  MORTE  D' ARTHUR. 


21 


"  Men  change  swords  for  ledgers, 
The  student's  bower  for  gold  "— 

and  thus  arrests  degeneracy,  that  great  bugbear  of  the  modern 
political  economist.  Cherish  a  chivalric  spirit  in  an  army,  and 
the  brightness  of  its  military  glory  will  be  preserved,  and  with 
impunity  you  may  adopt  the  suggestion  of  that  apostle  of  Aboli- 
tionism and  of  modern  Free  Thought  —  Channing —  and  "clothe 
it  in  a  hangman's  garb  instead  of  a  uniform."  Its  chivalry  will 
speedily  convert  that  garb  into  a  robe  of  honor,  will  invest  it  in 
an  heroic  element,  and  will  end  by  glorying  in  what  was  weakly 
meant  to  debase  it.  Witness  how  the  Hollanders  exulted  in  the 
title  of  opprobrium,  "  Les  Gueux,"  conferred  on  them  in  scorn  by 
their  Spanish  opponents.  "The  Beggars"  have  written  their 
name  indelibly  on  the  brightest  page  of  modern  history. 

Chivalry  would  never  confound  military  spoliation  with 
modern  "  bumming,"  would  never  boast  with  Major-General  Hun- 
ter, U.  S.  A.,  of  having  desolated  a  country  so  entirely  "  that  a  crow 
flying  over  it  would  have  to  carry  his  own  rations,"  which  was  his 
facetious  manner  of  announcing  the  ruin  he  had  wrought  and  the 
suffering  he  left  behind  him  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia.  Chivalry 
could  never  have  answered  a  woman  as  did  he  —  Major-General 
Hunter,  U.  S.  A. —  Mrs.  Lewis  of  Greenbriar  County,  Va.,  when, 
after  having  threatened  to  burn  all  the  property,  her  own  residence 
included,  within  five  miles  of  the  Sweet  Springs,  where  his  army 
had  been  resisted,  or  in  his  own  elegant  language  "  bushwhacked," 
he  replied  to  her  query  of  "  General  Hunter,  are  you  in  earnest  in 
saying  that  you  intend  that  women  and  children  are  to  be  made 
to  suffer  such  a  calamity  in  addition  to  all  besides  that  are  the 
natural  consequences  of  war?"  "  Madam,  I  do  intend  thai  the 
women  shall  suffer  !  I  organised  this  raid  for  that  especial  pur- 
pose. The  women  of  the  South  are  the  fiends  that  have  kept  up 
this  war;  they  have  thrust  their  fathers,  husbands,  and  brothers 


22 


THE  MORTE  d'aRTHUR. 


into  the  Rebel  army,  and  have  endured  everything  that  could  in- 
cite the  men  to  go  on  with  the  war;  and  I  intend  to  crush  the 
proud  rebellious  spirit  of  you  Virginians.  I  am  coming  back  to 
burn  your  grain-fields,  to  make  a  desert  of  the  '  Pride  of  the 
Earth,' to  desolate  your  country,  and  to  starve  —  yes,  to  starve 
women  and  children,  but  what  they  shall  come  back  to  their  law- 
ful Government,  the  best  Government  in  the  world."  Had  Major- 
General  Hunter,  U.  S.  A.,  never  been  taught  in  his  youth  to  admire 
the  Spartan  mother  who,  on  arming  her  son  for  battle,  said  as  she 
gave  him  his  shield,  "  With  this,  or  upon  it"?  Did  Chivalry 
speak  through  the  mouth  of  Major-General  Grant,  U.  S.  A.,  when 
on  her  application  to  him  for  a  pass  through  his  lines  to  Rich- 
mond, where  were  her  two  sons,  he  advised  another  Virginia 
woman,  and  she  a  widow,  to  remain  wrhere  she  was:  "for, 
Madam,"  he  said,  "  when  I  get  to  Richmond,  women's  persons 
will  not  be  safe"  ? 

Did  Chivalry  choose  Gen.  Warren,  U.  S.  A.,  as  her  representa- 
tive when  he  encamped  near  Bethesda  Church,  Hanover  County, 
Va.,  and  answered  an  appeal  from  Mrs.  William  Currie,  who, 
driven  from  her  house  by  his  soldiers,  robbed  of  every  mouthful 
of  food  and  every  article  of  clothing  she  had  for  herself  and  her 
children,  houseless,  starving,  and  helplessly  enclosed  in  his  lines, 
presented  herself  in  person  at  his  headquarters,  and  begged  for 
food  for  her  suffering  children  on  the  sole  ground  that  his  soldiers 
hal  deprived  her  of  everything  she  possessed?  "Madam,"  said 
the  heroic  commander  of  the  Fifth  Army  Corps,  "  we  read  in 
history  that  the  women  of  Jerusalem  ate  their  own  babes  during 
the  siege  of  that  city  :  you  may  have  to  come  to  that  yet."  But 
he  magnanimously  added,  "  I  hope  not." 

Would  Chivalry,  or  even  her  daughter  "  Good  Manners,"  first 
take  forcible  possession  of  a  lady's  residence,  and  then  on  leaving 
it,  pack  with  her  own  military  hands,  as  did  Maj.-Gen.  Blair, 


THE  MORTE  d'aRTHUR. 


23 


U.  S.  A.,  the  exquisite  china  found  in  the  closets  of  Mrs.  Peter 
Hale,  of  Fayetteville,  North  Carolina— she  being,  too,  the  daughter 
of  his  own  and  of  his  father's  political  compeer,  with  whom  he 
had  long  associated  In  social  equality  —  Senator  Badger  of  North 
Carolina  ? 

Did  Chivalry  ride  side  by  side  with  Sherman  in  his  famous 
"  march  to  the  sea  "  ?  and  if  so,  what  thought  she  of  scenes  such 
as  this  ?  We  quote  from  the  pen  of  one  who  accompanied  him, 
and  who  thus  confides  to  the  New  York  Express  his  "  realisation 
of  the  horrors  of  war  "  : — 

"  I  strolled  up  a  winding  ravine  between  two  ranges  of  hills, 
when  a  considerable  distance  from  camp  I  came  upon  about 
twenty  women,  girls  and  children,  huddled  together,  partakers  of 
each  other's  wretchedness,  among  the  hills  in  a  state  of  starvation. 
Close  by  was  a  rude  newly-made  grave,  where  one  of  their  num- 
ber had  been  laid  in  the  ground,  who  they  said  starved  to  death. 
Such  a  group  of  misery  I  never  saw  before.  No  couch  but  the 
ground,  no  shelter  but  the  pitiless  sky,  and  not  a  morsel  of  food. 
I  turned  from  the  scene  sick  at  heart  that  I  could  do  nothing  for 
them,  and  to  think  that  their  lawful  protectors  were  just  across 
the  hills  engaged  in  battle!  Leaving  the  spot,  I  saw  a  woman 
hurrying  across  the  field  wringing  her  hands  in  a  state  of  despair 
bordering  on  madness." 

Did  Chivalry  light  the  torch  which  burned  Columbia  after  its 
surrender?  Can  her  "  line  of  march  be  traced" — to  quote  Gen. 
Hampton's  (0.  S.  A.)  manly  and  soldierly  letter  to  Gen.  Sherman, 
dated  Feb.  27, 1805  — "  by  the  lurid  light  of  burning  houses  "  ?  and 
does  she  leave  "  in  more  houses  than  one  an  agony  far  more  bitter 
than  that  of  death  "  ? 

Did  Chivalry  assist  Maj  -Gen.  Sherman  in  packing  the  iron- 
bound  chests,  six  or  eight  in  number,  which  citizens  of  Raleigh, 
North  Carolina,  saw  shipped  on  board  the  cars  at  that  place  for 


24 


THE  MORTE  d'aRTHUR. 


New  York  via  Newbern,  and  which  were  openly  spoken  of  by 
his  subordinates  as  containing  the  lion's  share  of  plunder  surren- 
dered to  him  as  head-bunmier  by  his  bumming  jackals  ?  Let  it  be 
recorded  here,  however,  as  a  bit  of  secret  history,  that  the  indig- 
nant Genius  of  North  Carolina  snatched  these  precious  chests  as 
they  passed  her  storm- wrapt  coast,  and  buried  them  deep  in  the 
bosom  of  the  sea  oS'  her  gloomy  Cape  of  Hatteras.  This  in  a 
measure  explains  the  "singular"  lack  of  Southern  trophies 
which  is  said  by  his  political  admirers  to  exist  in  the  household 
of  the  exemplary  and  honest  Major-General. 

Did  Chivalry  guide  his  pen  when  he  wrote  his  infamous  "  Ex- 
patriation Order  No.  67,"  declaring  that  "  the  city  of  Atlanta,  being 
exclusively  needed  for  warlike  purposes,  will  be  at  once  vacated 
by  all  but  the  armies  of  the  United  States; "  and  then  goes  on  to 
order  that  "the  Chief  Quarter-Master,  Col.  Easter,  will  at  once 
take  possession  of  buildings  of  all  kinds,  and  of  all  staple  articles, 
cotton,  tobacco,  etc.,"  by  which  the  whole  population  of  a  city 
was  without  warning,  "  at  once"  in  his  own  emphatic  words, 
turned  out  without  shelter,  and  driven  incontinently  beyond  his 
lines?  Does  Chivalry,  or  even  mere  honesty,  define  "staple 
articles,  etc.,"  to  mean  property  and  household  stuff  of  all  des- 
criptions ? 

Did  he  invoke  Chivalry  to  be  the  escort  of  those  four  hundred 
helpless  girls  whom  he  found  pursuing  their  vocation  in  a  factory 
in  Roswell,  Georgia,  and  whom  he  ordered  in  a  body  to  be  trans- 
ported "north  of  the  Ohio,"  and  there  left  penniless  aud  unpro- 
tected to  starve  amongst  a  strange  and  hostile  people  ? 

Was  Chivalry  the  aide-de-camp  of  Pope,  of  Steinwehr,  of 
Milroy,  of  Stnrgis,  of  Kautz,  of  Averill,  of  Sheridan,  of  Kilpatrick, 
of  Dahlgren,  and  of  a  host  of  others  whose  atrocities  have  stamped 
their  names  in  thousands  of  Southern  households,  where  they  will 
live  a  memory  of  horror  whilst  the  South  is  a  people? 


THE  MORTE  D'ARTHUR. 


25 


Does  Chivalry  steal  spoons,  books,  bonds,  furs,  and  jewelry, 
with  Generals  Custar  and  Wilson  ?  Does  she  with  the  latter 
appropriate  communion-chalices  for  drinking-cups?  Ask  the 
congregation  of  St.  John's  Church,  Cumberland  Parish,  Lunen- 
burg County,  Virginia,  if  they  think  such  desecration  chivalric. 

Does  Chivalry  not  only  read  but  also  publish  to  a  curious 
world  the  private  letters  and  papers  of  families,  stolen,  captured, 
or  confiscated  (we  know  not  which  word  to  use)  from  private 
houses,  as  was  done  in  numerous  instances  by  numerous  Northern 
Generals  during  the  late  war ;  and  vide  especially  Gen.  Lee's  letters 
to  his  son  Custis  Lee,  taken  from  Arlington,  and  Gen.  Polk's  letters 
to  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Huger,  taken  from  Mrs.  Polk's  intercepted 
and  rifled  baggage  ? 

Does  Chivalry  systematically  refuse  an  exchange  of  prisoners? 
Does  she,  in  the  expressed  hope  that  they  would  perish  by  thou- 
sands under  the  treatment,  consign  her  prisoners  of  war  to  loath- 
some barracks  or  unwholesome  dungeons,  feed  them  on  insuffi- 
cient food,  and  then  glory  in  the  success  of  her  infamous  con- 
duct ?  Does  she  wilfully  close  her  eyes  and  ears  to  the  sufferings 
and  complaints  of  her  own  unfortunate  soldiers,  left  by  the  for- 
tune of  war  in  the  hands  of  her  opponents,  knowing  that  on 
them  must  perforce  fall  an  equal  portion  of  that  want,  nay,  of 
that  starvation,  with  which  it  was  her  settled,  determined,  and 
openly  expressed  policy  to  subdue  her  enemy,  a  brave  and  de- 
termined people,  whom  she  was  confessedly  unable  otherwise  to 
conquer  ?  Does  she  in  answer  to  their  cries  for  help  at  her  hands* 
deliberately  tell  them  that  she  can  "  afford  "  to  sacrifice  them  ; 
that  they  weaken  her  enemy  by  the  necessity  he  is  under  of 
guarding  and  maintaining  them  ? 

Does  she  make  medicines  "contraband  of  war"? — and  does 
she  then  wink  at  the  passage  through  her  lines  of  poisoned  drugs, 
destined  to  spread  death  wholesale  throughout  a  nation  ? 
4 


26 


THE  MORTE  d'aRTHUR. 


Does  she  employ  such  instruments  as  Colonel  Miles  ?  Did  the 
Black  Prince  consign  to  the  tender  mercies  of  such  as  he,  his  cap- 
tured foe,  John  of  France  ?  Would  Chivalry  wring  the  heart  of  a 
great  nation  by  a  futile  effort  to  debase  it,  by  treating  with  in- 
dignity, nay,  actually  torturing  its  head,  its  exemplar,  when  in  her 
power,  as  the  Federal  Government  did  to  President  Davis?  Did 
the  Yaukee  Nation  universally  forget  that  "forever  of  a  man  of 
worship  a  knight  shall  never  have  dis-worship  "  in  the  petty  at- 
tempt to  cast  ridicule  upon  President  Davis,  and  through  him 
upon  the  Southern  people,  by  deliberately  and  persistently  mis- 
representing the  incidents  and  details  of  his  capture?  Would 
Chivalry  have  been  thus  unmindful  of  what  was  due  to 
herself? 

Again  and  again  do  we  ask  ourselves,  in  reading  the  record  of 
the  past  few  }*ears :  Has  a  sense  of  honor  indeed  left  the  earth  ? 
is  chivalry  indeed  dead  ?  is  this  modern  warfare  ?  And  has 
mankind,  in  the  over-refinement,  the  civilisation  of  the  present 
day,  entirely  forgotten  the  rude  virtues  of  their  less  polished  an- 
cestry ?  Hard  questions  to  put ;  but  thanks  to  the  stern  integrity 
of  the  pure  Anglo-Saxon  blood,  not  difficult  to  answer.  In  this 
very  Southern  country,  years  before  Major-General  Sherman 
woke  its  people  to  a  realisation  of  what  war,  war  without  chiv- 
alry and  without  mercy,  was,  an  invading  army  marched  through 
its  very  midst,  almost  in  the  very  track  afterwards  followed  by 
him.  This  army  was  however  commanded  by  a  gentleman,  who, 
though  loyal  to  the  heart's  core  to  a  Government  for  whose 
fancied  rights  he  was  contending,  never  for  one  instant  forgot  the 
claims  of  humanity,  of  Christianity,  of  honor,  and  of  chivalry  — 
Lord  Cornwallis.  Turn  to  the  unstained  pages  of  his  "  Order 
Book,"  and  ere  closing  it  with  a  sigh  at  the  mistakes  of  a  past 
generation,  contrast  it  with  that  of  his  successor,  General  Sher- 
man: 


THE  MOKTE  D'ARTHUE. 


27 


u  Camp  near  Beattte's  Ford,  ) 
"to.  28,  1781.  \ 


"  It  is  needless  to  point  out  to  the  officers  the  necessity 

of  preserving  the  strictest  discipline,  and  of  preventing  the  op- 
pressed people  from  suffering  violence  by  the  hands  from  whom 
they  are  taught  to  look  for  protection." 


"  Lord  Cornwallis  is  highly  displeased  that  several  houses  have 
been  set  on  fire  during  the  march — a  disgrace  to  the  army  !  And 
he  will  punish  with  the  utmost  severity  any  person  or  persons 
who  shall  be  found  guilty  of  committing  so  disgraceful  an  out- 
rage. His  Lordship  requests  the  commanding  officers  that  they 
will  endeavor  to  find  the  persons  who  set  fire  to  the  houses  this 


"  Lord  Cornwallis  is  very  sorry  to  be  obliged  to  call  the  atten- 
tion of  the  officers  of  the  army  to  the  repeated  orders  against 
plundering;  and  he  assures  the  officers  that  if  their  duty  to  their 
King  and  country,  and  their  feeling  for  humanity,  are  not  suffi- 
cient to  enforce  their  obedience  to  them,  he  must,  however  reluc- 
tantly, make  use  of  such  power  as  the  military  laws  have  placed 
in  his  hands  

"...  Any  officer  who  looks  on  with  indifference  and  does  not 
do  his  utmost  to  prevent  shameful  marauding,  will  be  considered 
in  a  more  criminal  light  than  the  persons  who  commit  these  scan- 
dalous crimes,  which  must  bring  disgrace  and  ruin  on  his  Majes- 
ty's service.  All  foraging  parties  will  give  receipts  for  the  sup- 
plies taken  by  them." 


Lord  Cornwallis  has  given  to  the  army  to  prevent  the  shameful 
practice  of  plundering  and  distressing  the  country,  and  these 
orders  backed  by  every  effort  that  can  have  been  made  by  Brig.- 


"  Headquarters  near  Causler's  Plantation,  ) 
"Feb.  2, 1781.  f 


day.: 


"  Headquarters,  Dobbin's  House,  ) 
''Feb.  17,  1781.  f 


28 


THE  MORTE  d'aETHUE. 


General  O'Hara,  he  is  shocked  to  find  that  this  evil  still  prevails, 
and  ashamed  to  observe  that  the  frequent  complaints  he  receives 
from  Head-Quarters  of  the  irregularity  of  the  Guards  particularly, 
affect  the  credit  of  that  corps.  He  therefore  calls  upon  the  offi- 
cers, non-commissioned  officers,  and  those  men  who  are  yet  pos- 
sessed of  the  feelings  of  humanity,  and  actuated  by  the  principles 
of  true  soldiers,  the  love  of  their  country,  the  good  of  the  service, 
and  the  honor  of  their  own  corps,  to  assist  with  the  same  indefat- 
igable diligence  the  General  himself  is  determined  to  persevere  in, 
in  order  to  detect  and  punish  all  men  and  women  so  offending 
with  the  utmost  severity  of  example." 

Such  was  the  conduct  of  the  English  commander  during  the 
Revolutionary  War  towards  those  whom  he  deemed  rebels  to  their 
king  and  traitors  to  their  country.  Eager  as  he  was  "  to  crush 
out  the  rebellion," —  for  success  to  him  meant  honor,  distinction, 
and  happiness,  domestic  happiness*  Lord  Cornwallis  remembered 
that  he  was  a  gentleman  as  well  as  a  soldier.  "Noblesse  oblige" 
still  governed  him  ;  and  even  had  he  for  one  moment  forgotten  it, 
the  consciousness  that  he  was  amenable  to  a  nation  whose  public 
opinion  was  guided  by  gentlemen,  would  have  been  a  stern  re- 
minder. His  efforts  to  make  this  noble  sentiment  also  the  gov- 
erning principle  of  his  men  were  constant  and  unremitting. 
When  the  head  of  an  army  is  thus  actuated,  the  rank  and  file 
will  not  fall  far  behind  him,  and  the  effect  of  his  example  and 
discipline  will  soon  show  itself  in  their  conduct. 

Float  we  now  down  the  stream  of  time  again  to  the  present 
day  —  yes,  into  the  very  camp  of  the  so-called  "  Southern  Rebels  " 
when  in  Pennsylvania ;  and  see  what  the  London  Times,  which 
should  be  an  impartial  witness,  says  of  the  manner  in  which  they 
"  carry  on  war  " : — 

"  The  greatest  surprise  has  been  expressed  to  me  by  officers 
from  the  Austrian,  Prussian,  and  English  armies,  each  of  which 

*  Lady  Cornwallis  died  of  a  broken  heart  in  consequence  of  his  Lordship's 
prolonged  absence  in  the  Colonies,  while  in  command  of  the  British  army. 


THE  MOETE  D'ARTHUR. 


29 


has  now  a  representative  here  —  one  of  them,  the  Prussian,  quasi- 
official;  the  other  two  private  individuals  travelling-  for  their  own 
pleasure  —  that  volunteer  troops,  provoked  by  nearly  twenty- 
seven  months  of  unparalleled  ruthlessness  and  wantonness  of 
which  their  country  has  been  the  scene,  should  be  under  such 
control,  and  willing  to  act  in  harmony  with  the  long-suffering 
and  forbearance  of  President  Davis  and  General  Lee.  Individual 
cases  of  atrocity  of  course  there  have  been,  likely,  if  got  hold  of 
by  the  Northern  press,  to  point  many  an  argument  from  singular 
to  universal,  and  to  be  represented  as  tb.e  invariable  rule  of  action 
for  the  Rebel  army.  .  .  .  But  with  these  exceptions"  (all  of 
which  were  severely  punished  by  Gen.  Lee,  one  with  death  to  the 
perpetrator)  "  the  damage  done  to  Pennsylvania  consists  in  the 
seizure  of  many  horses,  cattle,  stores,  wagons,  and  much  forage, 
in  exchange  for  which  Confederate  money  has  been  paid,  or  if 
preferred,  receipts  have  been  given  in  the  name  of  the  Con- 
federate Government.  Not  a  barn  has  been  burned,  not  a  shed 
destroyed.  Upon  each  side  of  the  execrable  road  which  leads 
from  Chambersburg  to  Hagerstown,  a  broad  track  as  wide  as 
Regent  Street  has  been  trodden  clown  by  the  onward  liue  of 
horse  and  foot ;  beyond  this  damage  there  has  been  none  save 
such  as  is  comprised  in  the  plucking  of  a  few  cherries  from  the 
abundant  cherry-trees  which  grow  wild  in  this  latitude,  and  the 
occasional  larceny  of  a  few  chickens.  To-day  a  spectacle  was 
witnessed  the  like  of  which  in  my  belief  has  never  been  exhibited 
by  any  great  captain  during  the  last  one  hundred  years.  Gen. 
Lee  wandered  away  a  few  yards  from  his  quarters,  and  observed 
a  rail-fence  girding  a  field  of  which  a  few  rails  had  been  pulled 
down  and  a  gap  into  the  field  opened.  With  his  own  hands  and 
unassisted  he  commenced  repairing  the  fence,  until  at  last  Dr. 
Cullen  of  Longstreet's  staff  came  to  his  assistance,  and  together 
they  made  good  the  damage.    I  am  told  that  whenever  he  has  ob- 


30 


THE  MORTE  D  ARTHUR. 


served  them  be  has  either  personally  or  through  his  staff  ordered 
the  Rebel  blackbirds  to  desist  from  pilfering  the  cherry-trees." 

Next  read  the  official  report  of  their  enemy  himself  as  to  the 
conduct  of  the  Southern  army  when  on  his  soil;  he  at  least 
cannot  be  suspected  of  viewing  with  favorable  eyes  those  whom 
he  also  arrogantly  terms  "  Rebels,"  and  who  were  then  in  actual 
possession  of  and  invading  his  territory.  We  quote  from  a  New 
York  paper  :— 

"  Col.  McClure,  the  Federal  officer  commanding  at  Chambers- 
burg,  Pennsylvania,  [miljtia,  we  suppose,  and  with  his  military 
character  in  abeyance,  for  how  could  he  otherwise  have  been  able 
to  make  an  "  official  "  report  ?]  in  his  official  report  to  his  Govern- 
ment, says  he  was  accosted  by  the  officer  commanding  the  advance 
of  the  Southern  troops,  who  '  assured  me  that  he  would  scrupu- 
lously protect  citizens,  and  would  allow  no  soldier  to  enter  public 
or  private  houses,  unless  under  command  of  an  officer  upon 
legitimate  business.  .  .  .  A  subordinate  officer  had  begged  of  me  a 
little  bread  for  himself  and  a  few  more,  and  he  was  supplied  in  the 
kitchen.  He  was  followed  by  others  in  turn  until  nearly  a  hun- 
dred had  been  supplied  with  something  to  eat  or  drink.  All, 
however,  politely  asked  permission  to  enter  the  house.  .  .  .  Com- 
munication having  been  opened  between  us,  squads  followed 
each  other  closely  for  water,  but  each  called  and  asked  permission 
before  getting  it,  and  promptly  left  the  yard.  I  was  somewhat 
surprised  at  this  uniform  courtesy.  About  one  o'clock  half-a- 
dozen  officers  came  to  the  door  and  asked  to  have  some  coffee 
made  for  them,  offering  to  pay  liberally  for  it  in  Confederate 
scrip.  After  concluding  a  treaty  with  them  on  behalf  of  the 
colored  servants,  coffee  was  promised  them,  and  they  asked  for  a 
little  bread  with  it.  They  were  wet  and  shivering,  and  seeing  a 
bright  open  wood-fire  in  the  library,  they  asked  permission  to 
enter  and  warm  themselves  until  their  coffee  should  be  ready, 


THE  MOKTE  d'aKTHUR. 


31 


assuring  me  that  under  no  circumstances  should  anything  in  the 
house  be  touched  by  their  men.'  " 

This  certainly  seems  a  rather  singular  "  Official  Report,"  but 
"Colonel  McClure  commanding"  must  settle  that  point  with  the 
Northern  press  generally,  who  most  of  them  published  it  over  his 
official  signature.  The  extract  above  was  clipped  from  a  New 
York  paper. 

We  now  turn  to  the  New  York  Herald  —  no  friendly  sheet  to 
the  South  certainly  —  and  under  the  head  of  "  The  Rebel  Levy  at 
Shiremanstown,"  read  a  dispatch  dated  "  Shircmanstown,  Penn., 
July  1st,  1863,"  from  which  we  learn  that  "  the  enemy  did  no  par- 
ticular damage  here ;  they  only  made  a  levy  for  something  to  eat "  ; 
and  from  another  dated  "  Mechanicsburg,  Pa.,  July  1st,  1863," 
that  "  the  enemy  agreeably  disappointed  the  people  here  by  his 
actions.  General  Jenkins  preserved  the  best  of  order  in  town. 
....  The  Rebels  did  not  carry  off  the  large  amount  of  stores  in 
warehouses  here,  and  did  no  particular  damage  about  town." 

Go  we  next  into  Head-Quarters  —  into  the  head-quarters  of 

that  soul  of  honor,  that  prince  of  gentlemen,  General  Robert  E. 

Lee,  C.  S.  A.,  than  whom 

**  Warrior  gentler,  nobler,  braver, 
Never  shall  behold  the  light" — 

and  read  what  he  issued  in  his  official  capacity  as  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  army  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  in  his  "  General 
Order  No.  73,"  for  the  government  of  his  troops  when  in  an 
enemy's  country.  We  quote  the  order  from  the  columns  of  the 
same  Northern  journal,  the  New  York  Herald,  which  is  thus  ma*cle 
to  bear,  we  hope,  a  not  unwilling  testimony  to  the  magnanimity, 
the  Christianity,  the  chivalry  of  the  opponents  of  its  country  and 
Government : — 

"  Head-Quarters  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  ) 
"  Chambersburg,  Pa.,  June  27th,  1863.  J" 

"  General  Order  No.  73. 
"  The  Commanding  General  has  observed  with  marked  satisfac- 


32 


THE  MORTE  d'aRTHUR. 


tion  the  conduct  of  the  troops  on  the  march,  and  confidently  an- 
ticipates results  commensurate  with  the  high  spirit  they  have 
manifested. 

"  No  troops  could  have  displayed  greater  fortitude,  or  better 
performed  the  arduous  marches  of  the  past  ten  days. 

"  Their  conduct  in  other  respects  has  with  few  exceptions  been 
in  keeping  with  their  character  as  soldiers,  and  entitles  them  to 
approbation  and  praise. 

"  There  have,  however,  been  instances  of  forgetfulness  on  the 
part  of  some  that  they  have  in  keeping  the  yet  unsullied  reputa- 
tion of  this  army,  and  that  the  duties  exacted  of  us  by  civilisation 
and  Christianity  are  not  less  obligatory  in  the  country  of  the 
enemy  than  in  our  own. 

"  The  Commanding  General  considers  that  no  greater  disgrace 
could  befall  the  army,  and  through  it  our  whole  people,  than  the 
perpetration  of  the  barbarous  outrages  upon  the  unarmed  and 
defenceless,  and  the  wanton  destruction  of  private  property,  that 
have  marked  the  course  of  the  enemy  in  our  own  country. 

44  Such  proceedings  not  only  degrade  the  perpetrators  and  all 
connected  with  them,  but  are  subversive  of  the  discipline  and 
efficiency  of  the  army,  and  destructive  of  the  ends  of  our  present 
movement. 

"  It  must  be  remembered  that  we  make  war  only  upon  armed 
men,  and  that  we  cannot  take  vengeance  for  the  wrongs  our 
people  have  suffered  without  lowering  ourselves  in  the  eyes  of  all 
whose  abhorrence  has  been  excited  by  the  atrocities  of  our 
enemies,  and  offending  against  Him  to  whom  vengeance  belongeth, 
without  whose  favor  and  support  our  efforts  must  all  prove  in 
vain. 

"  The  Commanding  General  therefore  earnestly  exhorts  the 
trgops  to  abstain  with  most  scrupulous  care  from  unnecessary  or 
wanton  injury  to  private  property,  and  enjoins  upon  all  officers  to 
arrest  and  bring  to  summary  punishment  all  who  shall  in  any  way 
offend  against  the  orders  on  this  subject. 

"  R.  E.  Lee,  General." 

Has  not  that  the  ring  of  true  Christian  chivalry  —  the  chivalry 
of  King  Arthur's  days  ?    Does  not  General  Robert  E.  Lee's  charge 


THK  MORTK  d'aRTHUE. 


to  his  troops  breathe  the  same  spirit  as  that  famous  one  given  by 

King  Arthur  to  his  Knights  of  the  Round  Table  when  he 

"  stablished  them "  V    And  can  we  not  quote  for  him  the  poet's 

exquisite  farewell  to  the  peerless  Knights,  and  say  with  truth  — 

"  Kind  in  manner,  fair  in  favor, 
Mild  in  temper,  fierce  in  fight  ; 
Warrior  gentler,  nobler,  braver, 
Never  shall  behold  tin;  light."  ? 

Run  we  now  the  famous  blockade,  or  should  we  prefer  it,  let  us 
"run  the  gauntlet"  at  Fortress  Monroe  —  and  by  what  is  known 
in  bitter  irony  as  the  "  Flag  of  Truce,"  let  us  penetrate  into  t  he  very 
heart  of  the  city  of  Richmond  itself,  into  the  Cabinet  of  President 
Davis,  the  civil  head  of  the  Southern  Confederacy.  View  him  in 
what  light  we  may,  he  now  appears  "  a  vast  Caryatides  upholding 
the  age."  His  moderation,  his  humanity,  his  long-suffering,  the 
firmness  with  which  he  resisted  the  advice  of  his  Cabinet,  the 
known  wishes  and  even  the  appeals  of  a  part  of  his  nation  to  re- 
taliate, cannot  be  too  much  dwelt  upon.  The  San  Grail  of  Chris- 
tian magnanimity  and  moderation  which  he  steadily  set  before 
himself,  and  to  which  it  was  his  constant  endeavor  to  direct  the 
eyes  both  of  his  army  and  his  nation,  was  in  its  nature  and  es- 
sence that  of  ancient  chivalry.  His  proclamations,  whilst  with  a 
clarion  voice  they  incite  his  people  to  a  brave  resistance  to  their 
o  ppressors,  to  a  steadfast  endurance,  an  heroic  fortitude  under 
their  reverses  and  misfortunes,  breathe  also  a  noble  forbearance,  a 
Christian  kindliness,  a  chivalric  courtesy  towards  their  enemies 
He  felt  that  his  was  the  hand  to  control  rather  than  to  excite 
men's  passions ;  that  to  him  was  confided  the  name,  the  fame,  the 
honor  of  a  great  nation.  And  nobly,  chivalrously,  did  he  redeem 
that  confidence.  To  him  as  their  exponent,  their  exemplar,  their 
head,  is  owing  not  only  the  stainless  scutcheon  brought  by  the 
Southern  army  out  of  the  late  war,  but  also  the  deathless  record 
of  courage  and  fortitude  which  as  a  nation  the  Southern  people 
5 


34 


THE  MORTE  D'aRTHUR. 


Lave  earned  for  themselves.  His  soul  contained  the  essence  of 
chivalry,  and  that  essence  he  had  the  rare  gift  of  imparting  to 
those  around  him.  u  Deo  Vindice!" — that  noble  motto  which 
the  Southern  people  gave  to  the  world  as  their  own,  was  his  ruling 
principle,  and  deeply  did  he  succeed  in  stamping  it  on  the  hearts 
of  his  countrymen. 

We  can  go  on  with  our  proofs  that  Chivalry  is  not  yet  dead, 
that  reverence  for  woman  has  not  entirely  departed  from  the 
breast  of  man,  has  not  been  entirely  dethroned  by  a  reverence  for 
that  thing  called  Capital,  money  for  money's  sake,  by  a  reference 
to  the  conduct  of  numerous  Southern  Generals  during  the  late 
war,  particularly  that  of  Generals  Jackson  and  Vau  Dorn,  and 
recall  how  they  passed  through  their  lines  at  Winchester,  Va., 
and  at  Holly  Springs,  Miss.,  car-load  after  car-load  of  baggage  un- 
touched and  unexamined,  although  they  well  knew  that  it  con- 
tained the  plunder  stolen,  captured,  taken  or  confiscated  from 
their  unfortunate  compatriots  —  dresses,  jewelry,  linen,  books, 
plate,  furniture,  and  what  not  —  because  it  bore  the  to  them  sacred 
name  of  woman,  was  inscribed  with  the  names  of  Mrs.  Milroy 
and  Mrs.  Grant,  the  wives  of  the  commanding  Generals  to  whom 
they  were  opposed.  And  both,  when  urged  by  the  victims  of 
female  rapacit}"  to  retain  and  to  return  to  the  rightful  owners  the 
ill-gotten  spoil,  refused,  saying  as  by  one  voice  that  they  "  made 
no  war  upon  woman ;  that  the  Confederate  Government  had 
naught  to  do  with  Mrs.  Milroy's  and  Mrs.  Grant's  baggage,  acquire 
it  how  they  might." 

Nor  was  the  chivalric  principle  confined  to  individuals  alone. 
Contrast  the  conduct  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina  when  amidst 
the  jests  and  jeers  of  almost  the  whole  civilised  world  she  calmly 
resumed  her  own  sovereignty,  and  undaunted  by  its  power,  delib- 
erately threw  down  the  gauntlet  at  the  feet  of  the  General  Gov- 
ernment, and  demanded  from  it  the  sovereignty  of  her  own  forts, 


THE  MORTE  d'ARTHUR. 


35 


with  that  of  her  arrogant  antagonist.  With  an  air  of  lofty  superi- 
ority humoring  her,  as  it  were,  it  condescended  to  treat  with  her. 
and  bound  itself  through  its  Commissioners  to  make  no  attempt 
to  reinforce  or  to  aid  in  any  way  that  misguided  commander, 
Major  Anderson,  without  due  notice  having  been  given.  And 
yet  on  that  very  day  (such  is  the  truth  of  history)  it  was  deter- 
mined in  Council  to  issue  orders  to  fit  out  "  The  Star  of  the 
West,"  and  secretly  and  with  all  expedition  to  reinforce  and 
victual  Fort  Sumter.  The  gun  that  broke  the  stillness  of  that 
peaceful  January  morning,  and  which  drove  back  the  ill-omened 
vessel  whence  she  came,  baffled  and  disappointed  in  her  treacher- 
ous designs  —  that  gun  sounded  the  knell  of  the  already  broken 
Union.  Yet  South  Carolina's  chivalry  did  not  even  then  desert 
her.  Remembering  that  "  forever  of  a  man  of  worship  a  knight 
shall  never  have  dis- worship,"  she  acted  on  that  knightly  principle. 
With  the  ability  to  crush  Major  Anderson  at  any  moment  did  she 
so  please,  she  calmly  stood  aloof,  holding  him  as  it  were  in  the 
palm  of  her  hand.  She  gave  him  the  freedom  of  her  mails  and  of 
her  markets ;  the  one  he  received  untampered  with,  and  in  the 
other  he  had  the  same  liberty  to  purvey  as  that  enjoyed  by  her 
own  citizens.  "  He  asked  for  water  and  she  gave  him  milk ;  she 
brought  forth  butter  in  a  lordly  dish":  but  unlike  the  Hebrew 
Amazon  of  old,  she  neither  "  put  her  hand  to  the  nail  nor  her 
right  hand  to  the  workman's  hammer."  She  would  rather 
work  on  his  magnanimity,  his  honor,  his  chivalry,  by  the  spon- 
taneous display  of  her  own  knightly  virtues.  Ask  the  "  Swamp 
Angel" — that  gun  upon  which  every  appliance  of  modern  en- 
gineering skill  was  lavished  in  order  to  give  it  "  a  long  range," 
a  range  long,  long  past  the  batteries  thrown  up  and  defended  by 
men,  into  the  very  heart  of  the  city  of  Charleston  itself,  where  it 
carried  death  and  destruction  into  many  an  innocent  and  hereto- 
fore happy  household.   Regardless  alike  of  the  midnight  hour  or 


36 


THE  MORTE  d'aRTHTJR. 


of  the  noonday  sun,  that  "  angel  "  worked  its  wicked  will  —  oft- 
times  fired  by  the  hands  of  women  who,  forgetful  alike  of  age,  in- 
fancy, or  the  sisterhood  of  sex,  deemed  it  a  pleasant  pastime  to 
"run  clown  to  James  Island,"  and  to  receive  from  the  hands  of 
their  obsequious  attendants  a  lighted  fusee  with  which  "  to  fire  one 
gun  into  the  heart  of  secession" — one  gun,  and  with  deadly  aim 
at  their  own  womanhood.  Ask  the  "  Swamp  Angel,"  we  eay1 
how  it  answered  South  Carolina's  mute  appeal  to  chivalry. 

But  to  leave  war  and  bloodshed,  and  to  come  down  to  the  "  piping 
times  of"  so-called  "peace" — did  not  the  Southern  people  as  a 
nation,  wiien  through  their  Generals  Lee  and  Johnston  they  laid 
themselves,  their  lives,  everything  but  their  sacred  honor,  uncon- 
ditionally at  the  mercy  of  their  conquerors  (conquerors  not  by 
force  of  arms,  not  by  superior  strategy,  not  by  superior  prowess, 
but  by  force  of  numbers) —  prove  that  to  them  at  least  the  noble 
sentiment  of  Sir  Palamides  ("  forever  of  a  man  of  worship  a 
knight  shall  never  have  dis-worship  ")  was  to  them  a  living  and  a 
present  one  ?  And  are  they  not  even  now  living  and  acting  on 
that  principle?  For  in  spite  of  sudden  Emancipation,  in  spite  of 
that  worst  engine  of  tyranny  which  far-sighted  malice  ever  im- 
posed on  a  conquered  people  —  the  Freedman's  Bureau  — in  spite 
also  of  a  thousand  other  exactions  and  oppressions  heaped  upon 
them  by  their  victors,  the  Southern  people  do  not,  and  cannot  to 
this  day  realise  the  full  measure  of  the  indignities  they  have 
suffered.  What  was  their  expectation  after  their  famous  and 
ever-to-be-lamented  surrender,  but  to  receive  from  the  hands  of 
their  conquerors  that  treatment  which  a  magnanimous  foe  freely 
accords  to  a  vanquished  opponent  whom  he  admits  to  be  "  worthy 
of  his  steel  "  ?  To  be  treated  as  equals  —  equals  in  rights,  equals 
in  honor,  equals  in  all  but  mere  brute  force,  in  short,  as  gentlemen. 
Had  President  Johnson,  as  was  confidently  expected  by  the 
Southern  people,  issued  in  the  summer  of  1865  his  so  long- 


THE  MORTE  d'aRTIIUR. 


37 


deferred  and  when  issued  utterly  valueless  "  Amnesty  Proclama- 
tion," pardoning  every  one  without  exception  in  the  nation,  from 
Mr.  Davis  down  to  the  humblest  civilian,  from  Gen.  Lee  to 
the  lowest  subaltern  in  the  army,  he  would  have  carried  with  him 
the  hearts  of  thousands  of  Southrons.  But  goaded  as  they  have 
been  by  the  sting  of  numberless  acts  of  petty  tyranny ;  by  the 
persecution  of  their  head,  their  exemplar,  President  Davis  ;  by 
the  presence  in  their  midst  of  an  armed  United  States  force, 
which,  like  the  constant  chafing  of  a  chain,  continually  reminded 
them  that  they  were  doubted,  that  distrusting  them,  their  con- 
querors held  them  bound  :  what  wonder  that  the  estrangement 
between  the  two  nations,  instead  of  lessening,  has  deepened  day 
by  day,  until  the  Southern  heart  has  settled  down  to  a  bitterness 
of  hatred  unknown  to  it  on  that  fatal  day  at  Appomattox  Court- 
House  ?  The  best  portion,  the  spirit,  the  gentlemen  of  the  South, 
have  sunk  into  a  sullen  apathy ;  powerless  to  assert  themselves, 
too  proud  to  complain,  they  view  from  afar  the  pageant  of  gov- 
vernment,  and  let  the  shifting  scene  slide  before  their  dull  gaze  as 
though  it  were  a  weary  pantomime  which  compelled  their  reluc- 
tant presence.  Disintegrated  as  is  their  society,  separated  in 
their  daily  lives  as  they  are  by  the  isolation  which  their  large 
estates  entail  upon  them,  individualised  as  they  have  been  for 
generations  by  their  habits,  their  manners,  their  social  system,  in 
one  word,  by  slavery,  which  made  of  each  master  a  head,  a 
governor  of  himself  and  of  his  dependants,  they  have  never 
acted  nor  felt  as  a  unit.  "  UEtat  c'est  moi/"  was  their  ruling 
principle;  this  made  them  the  sagacious  statesmen,  the  able 
politicians,  which  even  their  enemies  confessed  were  fit  to  hold 
the  helm  of  state.  They  governed  men  as  though  it  were  their 
birth-right.  Individually  they  were  strong,  but  as  a  nation  they 
were  weak.  They  were  a  conglomeration  of  independent  atoms» 
each  a  law  unto  himself.    That  want  of  unity  which  in  a  political 


38 


THE  MORTE  d'aRTHUR. 


sense  they  undoubtedly  lacked,  it  was  which  first  subdued,  and 
now  keeps  them  so. 

But  slavery  has  perished ;  but  from  its  ruins  a  new  element  has 
sprung  up.  That  sense  of  individuality  which  formerly  pervaded 
all  ranks  is  slowly  passing  away,  and  in  its  place  is  gradually 
arising  a  new  one,  that  of  cohesion.  The  unity  which  the  South 
has  hitherto  lacked  is  born  of  her  present  condition.  It  is  yet  in 
its  infancy ;  but  if  we  may  venture  to  predict  the  future  conduct 
of  a  nation  from  the  character  of  its  people,  ere  long  an  injury,  an 
oppression,  an  insult  offered  to  one  member  of  that  brotherhood 
of  suffering  will  thrill  through  the  whole  Southern  Confederacy 
as  though  a  nerve  in  its  quivering  frame  were  suddenly  laid  bare. 
Its  Chivalry  will  quicken  its  sense  of  injustice  and  wrong:  and 
Chivalry  ever  demands  a  prompt  redress. 

It  has  been  used  as  a  reproach  to  both  sides  of  the  American 
people  engaged  in  the  contest  during  the  late  war,  that  events  so 
stirring,  through  which  both  nations  alike  passed,  had  failed  to 
awaken  the  poetic  as  well  as  the  chivalric  element  in  their 
breasts,  and  many  have  not  scrupled  to  argue  from  thence  that 
both  were  alike  dead.  We  have,  we  hope,  proved  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  our  readers  the  deathless  immortality  of  Chivalry:  it  is  for 
Time  to  demonstrate  that  of  Poetry.  In  the  words  of  a  Southern 
woman,  when  reproached  during  the  imminence  of  the  war  for 
Southern  independence  with  the  fact  that  though  she  admitted 
that  "  poetry  was  the  natural  language  of  excited  feeling,"  and 
that  though  as  she  well  knew  the  hearts  of  her  countrymen  were 
then  stirred  to  their  very  depths,  yet  that  in  spite  of  their  enthu- 
siasm, in  spite  of  their  suffering  even,  no  good  poetry  had  found 
utterance  amongst  them  : 

Say  not  we  have  no  poetry  ! 
The  nation's  daily  life  struggling  'gainst  adverse  fate  is  in  itself  a 

grand  unwritten  epic! 
See  yon  long  line  of  fresh-lipped  boys!  forth  with  their  mothers' 

prayers  and  blessings  on  their  heads. 


THE  MORTE  d'aRTHUR. 


39 


Forth  they  go  to  meet  in  their  green  youth  the  stern  o'erwhelming 

shook  of  furious  war  ! 
Hear  their  defiant  shout  as  through  their  ranks  crashes  with  deadly 

force  the  hissing  shell ! 
They  rush  to  death  as  to  a  carnival ;  cheap  their  lives  when  laid  upon 

their  country's  altar. 


See  the  scarred  veteran  drowning  the  thought  of  home,  of  wife,  Of 
child,  of  household  joys, 

In  the  stern  sense  of  patriotic  duty!  What  to  him  the  camp's  dis- 
comforts?   M  id.st  the  pelting  storm. 

Beneath  the  burning  sun,  ay,  pinched  with  cold  and  starved,  un- 
flinching he  performs  it. 

Hark  to  the  trumpet  call  to  arms!  See  the  long  ranks  of  bristling 
steel ! 


Rank  after  rank,  seeming  in  endless  lines,  the  foemen  furious  come. 

Calm  he  awaits  them, 
Till  at  the  word  sudden  a  lurid  light  breaks  like  the  lightning's  flash 

along  his  serried  lines; 
Then  like  a  hound  unleashed,  with  yell  and  cheer  whilst  yet  the 

shifting  smoke 

Eddies  upon  the  morning  breeze,  see,  see  him  charge  the  unbroken 
steel ! 

Find  ye  no  poem  here? 


Enter  with  gentle  step  the  darkened  hospital,  bend  o'er  each  couch 

of  pain:  it  holds  a  wounded  hero. 
Hearest  thou  one  murmur,  one  regret  for  having  thus  in  the  full  flush 

of  manhood  given  their  all 
To  shield  their  country  from  the  tyrant's  sway?    No!  but  from 

fevered  lips  rises  the  wish 
To  be  once  more  in  the  full  front  of  battle.  Eyeing  his  maimed  limb, 

the  wounded  veteran 
Sighs  that  ne'er  again  in  the  stern  crash  of  arms  can  he  confront  his 

country's  hated  foe. 


See  that  noble  matron  !  Smiling  although  her  heartstrings  burst  the 
while, 

She  bids  her  loved  one  go.  Calmly  she  arms  him  for  the  fight,  and 
with  a  firm  endurance 

Bears  the  unwonted  weight  of  wearing  care  brought  on  by  his  pro- 
longed absence ; 

And  though  at  times  faint,  weary,  heartsick,  and  almost  crushed 

beneath  the  unwelcome  burden, 
Not  one  murmur,  one  complaint,  escapes  her.   Cheerily  she  writes 

him, 

Lest  some  sad  thought  of  her  or  of  his  loved  ones  in  his  distant  home 
Weaken  his  arm  when  he  confronts  his  country's  hated  foes. 


See  yon  lone  mourner!   Of  husband  and  of  child  bereft,  she  bears 

her  grief  as  though  it  were  a  robe  of  honor ; 
Looking  up  from  out  the  depths  of  her  resigned  woe,  she  buries  in 

daily  care  for  others 
That  great  sorrow  which  else  would  eat  and  gnaw  into  her  very 

being ! 

She  simply  says :  "  I  gave  them  to  my  country ! "  and  passing  on 

wears  out  her  life 
In  minist'ring  to  those  cast  by  the  chance  of  war  upon  a  bed  of  pain. 
Call  ye  not  that  true  poetry? 


* 


40 


THE  MORTE  d'aRTHTJR. 


'Tis  not  in  times  like  these,  when  what  we  hold  most  dear,  our 
hopes,  our  pagsions,  and  our  joys. 

Die  in  the  lull  vigor^F their  manly  strength,  crushed  hy  the  Jugger- 
naut of  war; 

When  e'en  our  daily  lives,  by  suffering  made  sublime,  rise  by  self- 
sacrifice  to  sacramental  power,— 

'Tis  not  now  that  men  write  poetry.  Our  lives  are  poems,  and  in  the 
record  of  brave  deeds. 

Of  calm  endurance,  of  patieut  fortitude,  the  legacy  of  blood  we  leave 
behind  us, 

Our  children  yet  shall  find  their  noblest  poem! 


Such  is  the  record  of  the  Southern  Confederacy !  **  Man's 
noblest  poem  is  man's  bravest  deed!"  Its  poetry  of  action  — 
its  brave  deeds  —  its  Chivalry  shall  live  so  long  as  Time  has  a 
page  on  w  hich  to  inscribe  them  !  She  has  not  lived,  she  has  not 
died  in  vain  !  She  has  shown  to  the  modern  world  leaders  actu- 
ated by  the  spirit  of  ancient  Chivalry  —  leaders  worthy  of  a  seat 
at  Arthur's  Round  Table  with  Sir  Lancelot,  Sir  Tristram,  and  Sir 
Galahad :  and  the  noblest  epitaph  which  as  a  nation  she  can  ask 
at  the  hands  of  posterity  is  the  admission  that  her  people  were 
found  worthy  of  their  leaders. 

Let  her  rest  amongst  the  exemplars  of  futurity. 


975.2  Z99C  1830-79  v.l  nos.l 
14  P53301 


Mar y 1 and- ?  am phi e  t  s 


975.2  Z99C  1650-79  v.l  nos.1-14 

P5J301 


